After yesterdays cold flounder on the River Orwell today was completely different - very mild and mega windy!!! :) It was another Felixstowe day out as we take over Point Clear, even Dave White said he has never seen so many out. It was a bit hectic at times in the lagoon with 20/30 windsurfers/Kiters all looking for the flatest water! I arrived at 10:40 and as the fence has gone on half the green you could park just off the road on the grass and within an hour there wasn't a parking space to be had! The tide was still fairly low and my wind gauge was reading 30 to 40 mph on the sea wall so took a chance with my new X-15 5.8 and Falcon 80. I didn't give as much downhaul as the first Time I used it and did manage to set it fuller! Point Clear is a great place to sail with a flatish lagoon and some nice swells out to sea but as an out and out speed venue it is not so good, as flat water is in short supply and the lagoon always chops up:( With the wind wsw you could launch in ftront of the green and sail straight into the lagoon and I made 31 kts the first run and got several runs over 30kts including a spot PB 35kt run which I achieved by sailing really broad down the choppy channel,the only trouble with this is you end up in 6" of water and two feet of mud and it was knackering getting back up-wind:( As the tide got higher the speeds went down and you had to be carefull in the crowds and the wind was a bit up and down so I decided to head back to the van for some home made soup with Mag who was enjoying the nice sunny day doing crafts again, she even managed to have a stroll with the camera :) It was hard work sailing the 80 so changed to my Fanatic Cross, a 100lt. freeride board and had a good spell in the afternoon trying for some Alpha's, again I did some lovely gybes but as usual I am disappointed with the speeds - good fun trying though:) By this time my arms were shot to pieces so I decided to call it a day just as the wind went:( I managed to struggle back to the beach to pack up. By the time I had de-rigged and had a cuppa we were last to leave, so not a bad day, sunny and mild and out with loads of mates - The Felixstowe Gang included Peter Cutts, Neil and Craig Hurrell, Mark and Nick Swain, Ian Clarke, Roger Vickers, Andy Marshall, Paul Davis and me :) and a few spot PB's for me too:)
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